The final marvel movie before The Avengers is now in theaters. I saw it earlier today and I think “the first avenger” subtitle should have been “the avenger prequel”.
I thought the movie was decent, but the ending lacked finality. It was a blatant lead in to The Avengers. What did everyone else think? And did you stay through the credits?
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Yes, there was a lot of story left open to lead into the Avengers. Right from the opening scene you could tell there wouldn’t be resolution within this movie. That said I did like it quite a bit. The pacing was good, though it was textbook good, so don’t expect too many surprises in how the movie progresses. I think the graphics were amazing. The mini Steve Rogers was nearly flawless. Instead of using a body double and stitching a head onto it, they actually rotoscoped the whole thing to shrink the guys body. Pretty intense, and I think it paid off. I really liked the Red Skull and how they used practical effects rather than a CGI head. I wouldn’t have liked a “realistic” version of the Red Skull, and much prefer that they stay true to the comic book look with a rubber mask.
The action was great, and I really liked the vintage Captain costume. It captured the spirit of the character, while still looking “realistic” for the movie setting. The battle montage in the middle where Captain America is leading the fight against the Hydra weapon factories was awesome. I loved how it captured both the inginuity of the team, and the brute strength that they’re capable of.
The only downside for me was the final Hydra bunker battle. I watched it in 3D, and can only assume the digital print suffered the same problem. The first 2/3rds of the movie looked like it was shot on film. The action sequence in the last 3rd, inside the bunker and the bomber, had that digital camcorder look to them. It’s like they forgot to render the scenes with the filters turned on so it had this “made for TV” look. Not a huge problem, but if you have keen eyes it was a little bothersome, though it was one of my only complaints. I wouldn’t say that the 3D version was a must see anyhow. There was some stuff that popped in 3D, like a couple shield throws, and it helped give depth to some of the sets, but overall you’re not going to miss much by watching the 2D version. I’d even wager that you could skip the digital version and see if it helps with that one problem in the later part of the movie.
I’d say it’s a 4/5 with the biggest shortcoming being the story doesn’t wrap up the way a movie should as it clearly has a sequel in mind. I think if the Avengers delivers a good show, then this could retroactively get bumped up a .5 or even to a full 5/5 with a good conclusion to what Captain America has started.
I really enjoyed this movie. I liked it how I hoped I would have liked Thor. The action sequence in the middle was really cool it reminded me of watching comic book panels come to life.
I was a little annoyed by Eberts review where for some reason he thinks the movie needed more sex. But I already ranted about that on my blog so I will not start that again.
I am looking forward to see how he fits into the Avengers movie. I want to know more about his transition into the modern day but I do not know how much of that they will go into in Avengers I really hope they do not try to stuff too much into the Avengers movie. With so many interesting characters it is going to be tricky. Like the Watchmen where it was just so much stuffed into one movie that by time the bad guy destroyed a city I really did not give a damn. Lets hope it is done better then that.
Anyone else thinking “Push the little red button” during the car/plane chase scene?
Awesomely funny movie. My favorite comedy bit was probably the part during basic training with the flag.
Tommy Lee Jones was great and I loved the bits of Howard Stark. I can really see where Tony got it from.
We saw the movie in 2d and were quite happy with that. I was pleased that they solved a problem from the previews - in the commercials he looked like a bobblehead but not in the movie.
I really enjoyed the speeder bike chase through the forest on Endor…er…I mean the motorcycle chase in the woods of Germany.